Will I Be Able To Play Piano?

Last night I was reading this editorial about healthcare costs from the New York Times, and the following thoughts came to mind:

First and foremost, I believe that there are more small doctors out there, internists, pediatricians, family doctors, Ob/gyns, etc.,than there are big time hot shot doctors making huge amounts of money. If you look at your EOBs from routine/sick visits, the physicians are not making that much money per patient. So if the top thoracic surgeon is raking in the dough, and a new healthcare system wants to put the brakes on that, I can understand it, but I believe that cutting "medical costs" will hurt the small local doctors more than anything else. The "Big Guys" will just opt to "not take insurance" leaving it to the patient to pay out of pocket and fight it out with the insurance companies. I don't think every doctor, especially those who aren't specialized will have that option, unless they somehow give themselves the reputation of being "the top guy." Though, to be honest, I don't need my internist to be the top guy, when right now I use him when I know what I have (flu, bronchitis, strep...etc).

The point is, that like all things, it's the middle guys who will get crushed, and the insurance companies will find ways to keep their money, mostly by squeezing the doctors further.

Americans don't want to be told who to see and when to see them. Does the system need work? Absolutely. Is a wide ranging government program the answer? Not likely. Is a program that you can opt out of the answer? Hmmm. Possibly, but again who gets the squeeze? The middle. Those who want to opt out but can't because the new cost of private insurance is unattainable.

I can see where it would be considered too much of a class system to have specific doctors set up in the government program, like government sponsored clinics, but in a sense I believe that will happen anyway. The people who can afford it will go to the doctors who are not in any program, and the patients will pay what they have to pay after insurance rejects half the claim. These are the doctors who will be the wealthiest, with the wealthiest patients, and the class system will have set itself up.

Listen, everyone wants to pay less for healthcare, and it's not so much that everyone needs insurance, but they do need access to good healthcare. And cheaper insurance would be great, though I believe there should be a system that does not freeze out the routine doctors. When there's talk of sky rocketing medical costs, isn't that MRIs and CT scans, surgeries, etc? I like being able to decide that I want to go to the dermatologist or orthopedist, or whomever, without my GP going on an ego/slash power trip about it.

Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I was on a bus in Manhattan last week, and the guy sitting across from me pulled out his I-phone, and left a message at a car dealership "Hi, it's Dr. Kahn, I would like to test drive the...." Who refers to themselves with a title in a non-professional setting? How pompous can you be? I can't imagine leaving message or saying to anyone "hi, it's Mrs. BlogBerg." No I'd say "hi, it's Female BlogBerg," You know like a normal person. And on that note, I think that if doctors are going to call me by my first name without asking me first, I will return the favor.